It’s a sign of just how tough a time Mitt Romney has had of late that his aides are anxious to thrust him into the Middle East peace process.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee won’t, of course, be negotiating land for peace or doing any real diplomacy when he jets to Jerusalem next week. But balancing meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians, or really just about any change of subject, is preferable to what the Republican has been grappling with over the past two weeks.

Starting next Wednesday, Romney’s trip to Great Britain, Israel and Poland couldn’t come at a better time.

Some political observers questioned his decision to leave the campaign trail to spend a week at the Olympics and posing for photo ops with foreign leaders, yet Romney’s journey now seems to offer a welcome respite from perhaps his roughest patch yet of the general election.

Battered for two weeks by questions over when he left Bain Capital and why he won’t release more years of income tax returns, Romney has an opportunity to rise above the campaign grind and play statesman-in-waiting.

The former Massachusetts governor will meet with the prime ministers of the three countries he’s visiting, discuss lofty foreign policy matters in each and deliver speeches in Jerusalem and Warsaw.

Further, Romney is set to attend the opening of the Summer Olympics in London and other events surrounding the games, a move his advisers hope will finally shift attention from Bain to what the candidate did after he left the company — rescue the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

As first reported by POLITICO earlier this month, Romney will kick off his foreign policy offensive with a speech Tuesday at the VFW convention in Reno, Nev. He’s expected to hammer President Barack Obama in that address, but in a conference call this week previewing the overseas trip Romney officials emphasized that the candidate would primarily use the journey to “learn and listen” and would not be critical of the incumbent on foreign soil.

Yet Romney’s campaign also sought to highlight what binds the three countries he’s visiting, a not so subtle reference to the Republican’s more hawkish approach to foreign policy.

“Each of these nations shares our love of liberty as well as the fortitude to defend it,” said Romney policy director Lanhee Chen. “They’re each pillars of liberty and have fought through periods where liberty was under siege and so this trip is an opportunity for us to demonstrate a clear and resolute stand with nations that share our values and possess the fortitude to defend those values in the name of a more peaceful the world.”

Even before he leaves, Romney is already taking criticism from Obama’s campaign, which reached out to reporters to point out that when the then-Illinois senator took such a trip during the 2008 campaign, he made stops to see American troops and foreign leaders in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dan Senor, a top Romney foreign policy adviser, noted that Romney had previously been to both countries, and was in Afghanistan last year.

“There are time constraints on any travel he does, particularly overseas, and we just had to make selections about where we want to focus and factor in the countries he’s traveled to before, and this is the schedule we settled on,” Senor said.

Romney’s trip begins in London on July 25, where he’ll mix Olympics events with a series of meetings and fundraisers hosted by American expatriates.

The Republican is slated to sit down with Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and Foreign Secretary William Hague. He’ll also visit with former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ed Miliband, leader of the Labor opposition.

It’s also possible that Romney could use his time in London to meet with other foreign leaders who are in town for the Olympics. Romney officials said the schedule there was still in flux.

In Israel, Romney will hold a similar whirlwind of meetings, seeing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and the opposition. He’ll also see Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Obama’s envoy to Israel, Daniel Shapiro.

Asked about the potential political benefit Romney could enjoy back home from showing his support for the Jewish state, Senor demurred.

“We believe that Americans of all stripes from across the country strongly identify with Israel, and that Israel is a long-time American ally, and we have so many interests that are aligned with Israel’s, obviously shared democratic values and security interests,” said the adviser.

Obama has yet to visit Israel as president, though he did when he made his campaign journey abroad in 2008.

The most striking, if unstated, political contrast of the trip may come during Romney’s last stop in Poland, a country that has had a rocky relationship with Obama and shares the Republican’s hard-line views toward Russia.

Romney will visit with former President and Cold War icon Lech Walesa in his hometown of Gdansk and also tour near Westerplatte, where the first shots of World War II were fired when the Nazis invaded Poland. Walesa snubbed Obama when the president visited Poland last year and some Poles took note when, in 2009, Obama didn’t attend the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II at an event in Westerplatte.

Romney officials also intend to highlight Poland’s economic strength, something they attribute to the sort of policies the Republican is advocating on the campaign trail.

“This is a country that stands in stark contrast economically to the rest of Europe, where economies are dropping by about five percent or more,” said Romney adviser Ian Brzezinski. “Poland in 2004 grew by four percent and I think this year it’s on track for two percent, which is pretty good in light of the Euro crisis. And Poland’s success of course is rooted in its commitment to the principles of free market in economics and capitalism.”

As of now, Romney is slated to finish his trip in Warsaw, where he’ll see Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Tusk and Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.